Emily Kinney Talks About How The Walking Dead Influences Her Music

Beth Greene’s beloved daddy said we all have jobs to do — but he never said we had to do two jobs at once. The Walking Dead's Emily Kinney pulls double duty as an actress and a singer-songwriter, and it sounds like a lot of her musical life is dictated by what TWD showrunner Scott Gimple and the writers dream up for Beth.

"Every day is different," Emily said, when talking to American Songwriter about getting song ideas on TheWalking Dead set. "There are episodes that don’t really feature me as much, so at those times, I have enough emotional space to be thinking of songs, and to come home from the set and do that with my free time. I also have times where the show is all encompassing, and Walking Dead just rules my life. Obviously, the show is very physically and emotionally demanding, so if it’s been a busy day, I’m spent by the end of it. I’m not gonna home and write a song. I’m gonna go home and think about what I’m doing the next day, so I can be on top of my stuff. Every day is different."

Suffice it to say, Emily had a lot of time to work on her music in Seasons 2 and 3 and the first half of Season 4. But the second half of Season 4, she must've been “spent” fairly often. Beth was everywhere ... until she was nowhere. We know Beth is returning in Season 5 and fans are madly speculating about what she could be up to, if she's even still alive. (We think she is, though, right?) So it's possible Emily won't have too much more time to write music.

The Walking Dead cast has been on a filming break since Season 4 wrapped last November, but Season 5 starts production pretty soon down in Georgia. The cast will be arriving to shoot the new episodes, and hopefully we'll get more teases about Beth's future. In the meantime, we'd love it if Emily wrote a song about Beth, especially if it included coded messages about what happened to her and how she really feels about Daryl Dixon(Norman Reedus). Give us something to work with during the summer break!

Have you been checking out Em's music? Do you love it? Do you hope she has more time to write songs in the next several months, or less time 'cause she's busy as TWD's new sheriff in town? Vote below!